Damming attachment



ug. 18, 1942.` W H.' ROHLFS 2,293,173

DAMMING ATTACHMENT Filed July 12, 1.940 2 Sheets-Sheei l Aug. 18, 1942. W. H, RHLFS I 2,293,173

y DAMMING ATTACHMENT Filed July l2, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Ef: I-5.@ F67 Patented lAug. 18, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DAMMING ArrAcnMliN'ry Walter H. Rohlfs, Akron, Iowa Application Juiy 12, 1940, scria1Nc.'345,1z5

1o claims. (c1. 97-55) My invention pertains to a dam forming attachment attachable to farm vehicles.

An object' of m'y invention is to provide an attachment which can be attached rearwardly of a tractor and which, when' drawn forwardly, will provide suitable dams of substantial area and depth to retain water therein.

` A further object of my invention is to provide such dams in the rows in the field without the necessity of separate powering means from the tractor itself. i

A further and important object of my invention is to provide an arrangement wherein the pockets areformed in staggered or alternate arrangement to prevent transverse cross washing through the rows.

A further object of my invention is to provide a synchronized arrangement` wherein the staggered arrangement is insured at all times without danger of the pocket forming members getting out of step.

A further object of my invention is to provide an arrangement wherein the pocket forming members work in synchronized relation and which can be lifted independently as desired out of engaging position.

A further object of my invention is to provide a modified form of dam forming arrangement' in which a synchronizing arrangement is not necessary which will form the pockets at spaced intervals.

A further object of my invention is to provide a simplified structure of this nature. i

With these and other objects in View, my invention consists inthe construction, arrangement, and combination of the various parts of my device, whereby the objects contemplated are attained, as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in my claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a rear View of the dam forming arrangement,

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken generally along the lines 2-2 of Figure 1,

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken along the lines 3i-3 of 'Figure 1,

Figure 4 is a diagrammatic view showing the staggered arrangement of the pockets formed in Figure 5,

Figure 7 is a further side elevation, and Figure 8 is a further side elevation.

`rotates freely within the hollow shaft 30.

My invention contemplates a dam or pocket forming machine which will form a series of cavities in thc scii in a nc1d which will save -I and conserve water therein, and which will especially prevent erosive action of water streams such beams I attach the transverse member I4.

upon which is mounted theratchets I5 which are adapted to engage the locking members I6 of the levers I1, which levers include the hand controls I8. It will be noted from Figure 1 that there are three of such levers I'I, each of which is adapted to control one of the independent units about to be described. The extreme righthand lever is attached at I9 to the shaft 20 which is journalled at 2l to the right-hand upright member I3, and attached to the shaft is a lever 22 to which is pivotally attached at.

23 the rod 24 which passes through a suitable opening 25 in the forwardly extending beam 26. The member 24 is threaded at 21 and includes the lock nut arrangement at 28. The central lever I1 is attached at 29 to the hollow shaft and is, therefore, free to rotate. The hollow shaft 30 is journalled within the journal 3l which is attached to the center vertical beam I3. The further shaft 32 is journalled at 33 to the left-hand vertical beam I3 and attached at 34 thereto is the left-hand lever II. The shaft 32 It will be seenby virtue of this construction that all of the units can be raised independently of each other by means of the levers I1, the functions of which will be described later.

Each shaft has a corresponding lever 22 hav.- ing the extended rod 24, etc., passing through the respective beams 26 as explained. Pivotally attached at 35 to each of the vertical beams I3 are the aforesaid rearwardly extending beams 26 which. include the forks 36 at either end thereof and which are pivotally attached at 31 to the upper extremities of the further rear vertical member 33. Similarly, at the lower end of the members I3 are pivotally attached at 39 2 similar members 49 havingl the forked ends 4|. the rear ends of which are pivotally attached lat 42- near the lower end of the vertical member 38. Suitably attached at 43Ato the lower ends of the members 38 are the pocket or dam forming members 44 which are preferably arcuate in shape and of sumcient curvature and which terminate in the pointed ends 45. Attached to the upper ends of the members 38 are the brackets 48 in which are journalled the shafts 41 and which shafts 41 are attached to the universal joints 48 which connect to the connecting shafts 49.

Attached centrally to the shaft 41 and between the brackets 48 are the upper sprockets 50 over which pass the chains 5l. A lower pair of bearings 52 are attached to the members 38 and which receive the shafts 53, and a sprocket 54 is attached medially of the shafts,53 and engage the aforesaid chains 5i. The shafts 53 are adapted to be retained in fixed position laterally by means of suitable keys 55. Attached at the outer extremities of the shaft 53 are the cylindrical hollow pipe members 56 in which are received the solid members 51 at the extremities of which are attached the soil engaging members 58 which members are of substantial length and width and include the angularly positioned flange extensions 59 at one end thereof. Suitable lock screws 60 which are received within the pipes 56 serve to retain and secure the members 51.

Now that I have explained the structure -of my device, I shall explain the operation thereof. It will be noted that the entire unit is attached at the rear end of the tractor. As the tractor travels forwardly in the direction of the arrow 6| (see Fig. 2), the soil engaging members 58 will contact the ground level, which is indicated by the character 62, and such contact will be insured by the angularly positioned anges 59 which will penetrate and engage the soil surface. As a result of such engagement of the members 58 with the soil, the shafts 53 which are attached to the members 56 will rotate in the direction of the arrows 63. Such rotation will carry each individual unit in this direction, and as the members 58 contact with the ground, the blade or pocket forming portion of the apparatus will be raised off of the ground, carrying the blade upwardly into the positions shown in Figures 1 and 2. The central members 56 and 51, however, are positioned directly at right angles to the outer members. This is shown clearly in Figs. l and 2, with the dotted structure in Fig. 2 showing the position of the members 56, 51, and 58 when the other members are in soil engaging position. Since the central members 56 and 51 are not engaging the ground in this position, the blade 44 will fall by virtue of the weight of the entire associated mechanism of the pivoted members 26 and 40, as well as the weight of the central vertical member 38, the sprockets and chains thereon, etc. As a result, this weight, when applied to the pocket forming member 44, will cause it to fall into the ground and penetrate the same, and during the forward motion of the tractor the blade 44 will travel in this position for a short distance until the flanges 59 engage the soil, when it will be lifted to the position as shown in the solid lines in Figure 2. At this point, however, both of the outer units will drop into the soil in the same manner and cause the pockets in the same way. As a result of this alternate rising and falling of successive units, the pockets will be formed in a staggered manner as shown in Fig. 4 wherein the pockets are indicated by the character 84, and as a result, none of these pockets are directly in line with each other transversely so that streams of water cannot pass transversely across the rows.

The sprockets maintain the transverse relationship of the outer soil engaging units with respect to the central units, so that as a result, this arrangement is maintained throughout the operation of the machine. The universal joints 38 permit successive units to rise and fall and still maintain the driving synchronized arrangement of the shafts 46 with the shafts 41 so that the synchronized feature is not destroyed. In other words, the arrangements are locked transverse to each otherby virtue of the chain drives together with the sprockets, etc.v

The members 51 can be adjusted outwardly or inwardly by merely loosening the screws 60 and retightening for providing deeper pockets in asmuch as the relation between the units will establish the depth of such pockets, It will be noted particularly from Fig. 2 that the freely slidable arrangement of the rod 24 in the opening 25 permits unrestricted movement verticallyof the pivoted arrangements, and the nu'ts 28 can be adjusted on the threaded portion 21 to fix thev amount of lowering of pivoted units to adjust the depths of the pockets. However, when it is desired to raise any or all of the individual pivoted units, the levers I1 can be swung to the vertical wherein the nuts 28 will engage the under side of the member 26 and raise the unit out of operative position. The aforesaid structure of the shafts 20 and 32, which are freely pivoted within the hollow shaft 30 which, in turn, is journalled in the bearing 3l, permits any individual movement of the lever I6. The adjustment of the members 51 outwardly will also provide longer pockets if such is desired, since the circumferential travel will be greater. Any number of units can be employed, such as two or more, corresponding to the desire of the operator.

Figures 5 to 8 inclusive illustrate a modified form of the arrangement in which the synchronizing chain drives 5l, etc., are not necessary. In this form of the arrangement the vertical beams 38 are used, as also are the ears or bearings 52, and the soil engaging blade 44 is also used. 'Ihe transverse shafts 53 are, however, attached at 65 to the straps or bars 66 which straps take the place of the pipe members 56 in the other construction. The soil engaging members 58 having the angularly positioned flanges 59 are also used in this construction and are attached at the ends of the bars 66. Pivotally attached at 61 and 68 at the upper and lower extremities of the bars 66, and preferably at only one side of the arrangement, are the lengthened angularly positioned bars 69 and 10 which terminate in the points 1I. Pivotally attached through suitable openings at 12 and 13 is the link 14 which includes a series of openings at 12 and 13 at either end for adjustment purposes. A raised stop member 15 is attached to the bars 66 at a'slight distance from the rotatable center of the arrangement which member 15 is just long enough to provide abutting relationship with either the members 69 or 10.

Figure 5 illustrates a view of any one of the individual units, and it can be assumed that this is the right-hand unit as looking at Fig. 1. As the tractor travels forwardly, the arrangement will rotate in the direction of the arrow 63 and the following operation takes place.l When the members 58 are engaging the ground surface, the arrangement is as shown in Fig` 6 wherein the blade Il has not as yet penetrated into the soil. However, as soon as the arrangement travels forwardly it begins to rotate and the blade Il then drops into they soil as shown in Fig. 7. At the same time, the member 'lil4 will drop downwardly by gravity until the member 69 abuts against the stop member 'i5 and the points 1I will then penetrate into the ground, whereby 'by continued lmovement forwardly, this point, by virtue of its engagement with the ground, will tend to continue the rotation of the arrangement until the right-hand member El, as taken from Fig. 7, will again raise the blade 44 out of soil engaging position.` Continued movement forwardly will thereupon cause the member 69 to fall by gravity until the member 10 abuts against the stop member 'I5 wherein the point 1I of the member 69 will penetrate the soil, causing continued rotation,'and the members 69 and 10 will thereby be continually oscillating back and forth in this manner to provide continuedrotation of the unit.

The openings in the link 14 can be used to adjust desired intervals of the point penetration into the ground to adjust for such engagement for different heights of the blade, and it will be seen by virtue of this construction that the pockets will, thereby, be formed in spaced relation. The link openings will provide a greater or lesser spaced relation between the members 59 and 10, to insure penetration of the points in view of the fact that When the ends of the members 69 and 10 are spread farther apart by pivoting at these openings, they will have the tendency of penetrating the soil earlier and deeper, which is necessary when the blades 44 are adjusted for a lesser penetration. In the reverse manner the adjustment accommodates a later and lesser penetration by bringing the members 69 and 10 closer together. In this respect, although a synchronizing arrangement is not employed, nevertheless as a general rule the pockets will be staggered to a certain extent since three of such units will rarely have their pockets directly transverse due to the law of averages. This arangement eliminates the necessity of all of the chain drives, shafts, universal joints, etc., and only one group of members, 69, 10, and 14, are necessary to each unit. i

It will now be seen that I have provided a dam or pocket forming attachment which requires no separate powering arrangements, which provides dams of, substantial area and depth, which provides pockets in staggered arrangement, which insures synchronization of the staggered arrangement in a certain form of the device, and that I have provided such an invention in a simple structure.

Some changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of the parts of my invention ing the soil to cause alternate rising and falling of said attachments, including pairs of radially positioned spokes, soil engaging members attached at the extremities thereof, said members having angularly positioned `soil penetrating flanges, means for maintaining said spokes in transverse relation to each other so as toprovide staggered pockets as said pocket forming device is drawn forwardly.

2.` A soil pocket forming device comprising a plurality of pivoted weighted members including pocket forming attachments attached thereto, means straddling said attachments for engaging the soil to cause alternate rising and falling of said attachments, including pairs of radially positioned spokes, soil engaging members attached at the extremities thereof, said' members having angularly positioned soil penetrating flanges, means for maintaining said Ispokes in transverse relation to each other so as to provide staggered pockets as said pocket forming device is drawnI means for maintaining said spokes in transverse relation to each other so as to provide staggered pockets as said pocket forming, device is drawn forwardly, including shafts attached to said spoke members, sprockets attached to `said shafts, further sprockets attached adjacent to said sprockets, means for driving said further sprockets including a continuous shaft having a plurality of universal joints attached thereto, means for selectively raising each of said pivoted members including levers attached thereto.

4. A soil pocket forming device comprising a plurality of pivoted weighted members including pocket forming attachments attached thereto, means straddling said attachments for engaging the soil to cause alternate rising and falling of I said attachments, including pairs of radially positioned spokes, soil engaging members attached at the extremities thereof, said members having angularly positioned soil penetrating flanges, means for maintaining said spokes in transverse relation to each other so as to provide staggered pockets as said pocket forming device is' drawn forwardly, including shafts attached to said spoke members, sprockets attached to said shafts, further sprockets attached adjacent to said sprockets, means for driving said further sprockets including a continuous shaft having a plurality of universal joints attached thereto, means for selectively raising each of said pivoted members including levers attached thereto, said levers including rod extensions engaging said weighted -member, said rods including adjusting means threadably engaged therewith for adjusting penetrating depth of saidA members.

5. A soil pocket forming ydevice comprising a plurality of spaced pivoted weighted members including pocket forming attachments attached thereto, means for causing alternate rising and falling of said pivoted weightedmembers with respect to each other, and means for locking said rising and falling intervals to iixed positions, in-

meansstraddling said attachments for engaging the soil to cause alternate rising and falling of said attachments, said pivoted weighted members including vertical beams for iournalling said straddling means, forwardly extending beams pivoted thereto, a forward framework to which said forwardly extending beams are pivoted, means for attaching said forward framework to a tractor.

'1. A soil pocket forming device comprising a plurality of .pivoted weighted members including pocket forming attachments attached thereto, means straddling said attachments for engaging the soil to cause alternate rising and falling of said attachments, including pairs of radially positioned spokes, soil engaging members attached at the extremities thereof, means for maintaining rotation of said pocket forming device including lengthened bars pivotally attached at the extremities of said radially positioned spokes, said bars having soil engaging points.

8. A soil pocket forming device comprising a plurality of pivoted weighted members including pocket forming attachments attached thereto, means straddling said attachments for engaging the soil 4to cause alternate rising and falling of said attachments, including pairs of radially positioned spokes, soil engaging members attached at the extremities thereof, means for maintaining rotation of said pocket forming device including lengthened bars pivotally attached at the extremities of said radially .positioned spokes, said -bars having soil engaging points, the free pointed ends v of said bars adapted to fall by gravity and engage the soil to .provide continued rotation of the device.

9. A soil pocket forming device comprising a plurality of pivoted weighted members including pocket forming attachments attached thereto, means straddling said attachments for engaging the soil to cause alternate rising and falling of said attachments, including pairs of radially positioned spokes, soil engaging members attached at the extremities thereof, means for maintaining rotation of said pocket `forming device including lengthened bars pivotally attached at the extremities of said radially positioned spokes, said .bars having soil engaging points, the free pointed ends of said bars adapted to fall by gravity and engage the soil to provide continued rotation of the device, a link member pivotally attached between said 'bars for maintaining fixed relationship therebetween, an abutment stop member attached to said radially positioned spokes against which said bars abut.

10. A soil pocket forming device comprising a .plurality of pivoted Iweighted members including pocket forming attachments attached thereto, means straddling said attachments for engaging the soil to cause alternate rising and falling of said attachments, including pairs of radially positioned spokes, soil engaging members attached at the extremities thereof, means for maintaining rotation of saidfpocket forming device including l at the ends thereof to provide adjustable spacing of said bars.

WALTER H. ROHLFS. 

